"Every important thing I ever became, all of the qualities like patience and compassion and strength and courage, all of it was forged on the anvil of autism.”

by
JONATHAN M. METSCH, DR.P.H., LLCHudson Reporter

Jul 22, 2014 | 915 views | 0 | 0 | |

From a recent Newark Star Ledger article http://www.nj.com *

“State Supreme Court Justice Helen Hoens today delivered a deeply personal goodbye speech, saying she learned many of the skills needed to be a judge from her autistic son.

Justice Helen Hoens bid farewell to the state Supreme Court today, giving a deeply personal speech about patience and compassion while pulling back the curtain on a life spent "in the margins and the shadows of society" raising her autistic son.

“…the justice said anyone can learn the ins and outs of New Jersey law, but her core as a judge came from rearing her only child, Charlie, born in 1984.”

“The truth of it is, I have never left the margins of society. I have never left the people like my son, the people in the shadows, the folks that the important people don’t see or just don’t want to see."

"Someday each and every one of you will come across someone like my son," she said. "When that day comes, you’re going to be just like me, you’re going to want to get by, you’ll want to do what everyone wants to do: you want to push these people aside, look the other way, get on with your busy, important life or your movie or your fast food or your groceries.

"When that day comes…..stop, stop, take a deep breath, reach down deep, deep into the reservoirs of love and patience and kindness and compassion that reside deep in every one of our souls ...”